Daming Town Haiwang

The Netherlands is generally called the lowland area by Europeans, because the terrain here is very low, and there are many swamps, lakes, and rivers. Because of the geographical environment and location here, it has also been a must for powerful European countries since ancient times.

Historically, this area has been successively ruled by France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, etc. At the same time, due to the scattered aristocratic system in Europe, it has always maintained its independence.

The geographical location here is very important. Whoever occupies this place can attack many states under the Holy Roman Empire to the east, and the English Channel to the west, which can attack England.

To the north, you can go directly to chat with the Vikings in Northern Europe and discuss how to fish; to the south is the rich France, and you can directly face the rich Paris basin in France.

It is close to the sea and the mainland, and the waterway transportation is extremely convenient. It can be said that it is the cross center area on the Western European side. All the powerful monarchs in Europe have always coveted this place.

The Spanish Empire is no exception. Through complex royal marriages, the Spanish Empire successfully included this piece of land into its own territory. The current Spanish King Charles V was born in the Netherlands, and he still spoke French since he was a child.

However, at this moment, with the beginning of Charles V's reform of the Spanish Empire, he followed the example of the Ming Empire to implement centralization and reforms that concentrated all powers in the hands of the monarch.

This has greatly touched the traditions and interests of nobles everywhere. Not only the princes of the Holy Roman Empire announced the abolition of the title of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor, but even the Netherlands also announced its separation from Spain. Imperial domination.

Several major aristocrats and grand dukes in the lowlands united with many aristocrats here to form the Udele Alliance, officially announcing the establishment of the Republic of the Netherlands to get rid of the Spanish Empire's rule here.

The newly established Republic of the Netherlands was strongly opposed by the Spanish Empire, and Charles V even declared that all rebels in the Netherlands would be guillotined.

However, the establishment of the Republic of the Netherlands was supported and recognized by England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. They wished that Spain would be torn apart. What's more, other people also coveted the lowlands, which is a rich land.

The situation between the two sides is the same, and the whole of Europe is like a powder keg. As long as there is a little spark, war will break out again.

And everyone knows that day won't be long.

In the castle of the Grand Duke of the Netherlands, Duke William is discussing with other nobles how to deal with the attack of the Spanish army.

According to the news from France, Charles V has been preparing for war. Since Spain started reforming last year, Charles V, who is in power, has not only carried out drastic reforms to Spain.

Holding all the power of Spain in his hands, through the entire huge Spanish Empire, the strength of the Spanish Empire has also become stronger than ever.

The tax revenue that Charles V can receive is more than ten times that of before. He has money in his hands and has all the power in his hands.

Charles V also wantonly expanded his new army, which originally had a strong army of more than 20, and now it has expanded to 50 in one breath.

In addition, Charles V also hired a large number of retired Ming soldiers to train the army, and purchased advanced weapons and weapons from the Ming people.

With such a big fanfare of military expansion and war preparations, all countries in Europe are trembling.

Not only is the Netherlands under tremendous pressure, but even England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire are constantly preparing for war and buying large quantities of arms and weapons.

Everyone knows that when Charles V created such a powerful army, he definitely didn't do it for the sake of looking good, it must have a purpose.

"Your Excellency, according to the latest news, Charles V has dispatched [-] troops and [-] navies to sail northward, and their destination is our Netherlands."

"Is the news reliable?"

"Absolutely reliable, this is the information we bought from the Daming people at a huge price."

"A [-] army and [-] navy, we, the Netherlands, can't fight at all. The tens of thousands of impromptu troops next to us don't even have decent ammunition and weapons. How can we fight?"

"The Daming people promised us that as long as we have money, they can transfer arms and weapons from Hong Kong or Houzhao City at any time."

"The firearms and weapons of the Ming people are very good, but the price is really expensive. It costs several million taels of silver to buy tens of thousands of muskets. We don't have so much silver in our hands."

"Now we can only see if France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire are willing to help us, otherwise we will definitely lose."

William looked at the map, his whole face darkened.

In fact, the Netherlands has always been unwilling to be ruled by Spain. It was only through complicated royal marriages that Spain finally managed to rule here.

However, the Netherlands region still maintains a high degree of autonomy. Now Spain directly wants to turn the Netherlands into several Spanish provinces. These big nobles will lose a lot of power, land, etc. in their hands in the future. Naturally, they are I won't agree.

But when it comes to facing the powerful army of the Spanish Empire, everyone has a headache again.

The current Spanish Empire is in full swing, and it is extremely powerful in itself.

In addition, it has won two foreign wars in a row, obtained a lot of benefits from France and England, and has huge colonies overseas, and can plunder a lot of wealth from the colonies every year.

Externally, the relationship between the Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire is very good, and they can always get a lot of support from the Ming Empire.

If you want arms and weapons, you can sell arms and weapons to Spain, and if you want to give loans, even when Spain is about to lose the war, the Ming Empire will personally send troops to help Spain.

Over the years, Spain has also relied on trade with the Ming Empire. As a second-hand businessman in Europe, the Spanish Empire has earned huge wealth and huge benefits from it.

In the past, Spain was still relatively dispersed, and the power in the hands of the king was not very great, and there was no way to integrate his own power.

But now Charles V's reforms have concentrated power in the hands of the king, set up a large number of provincial systems, collected taxation and conscription rights, and so on.

The scattered forces were concentrated, and the power of the Spanish Empire became stronger than ever.

Such a Spanish empire is very powerful, so it casually dispatched a hundred thousand troops to attack the Netherlands.

"Immediately inform Henry VIII of England and Francois I of France, as well as the many states of the Holy Roman Empire, and tell them that we need their support now."

"Yes!"

Inside the Royal Palace of the Spanish Empire.

Charles V is carefully studying the regions and cities in the Netherlands, and he will never forgive the betrayal of the Netherlands.

I was born and raised in the Netherlands, where I spent a happy childhood, and I have already regarded the Netherlands as the most inseparable part of myself.

It is unforgivable that these people in the Netherlands have rebelled against themselves.

"Francia is in the way!"

"When I take down the Netherlands, when the time comes to attack France from the north to the south, the first one will annex you."

Charles V was ambitious, and he felt an eyesore when looking at the map of France.

In the future, I will attack the Holy Roman Empire and deal with the nobles of the states, but France and Italy are separated, and it is difficult for the army to pass, so it is best to take down France first.

France not only hindered the pace of Charles V's unification of Europe, but also the biggest obstacle.

The strength of France is still very strong, because France is relatively unified, with a large population, fertile land, and strong strength. Although it has been defeated in several wars, it has not lost much.

If you can take France, not only will you solve the biggest trouble, but you will also get a large population and rich land, which will be a very crucial step for the unification of the whole of Europe.

However, France has heavy troops stationed in the border area with Spain, that is, the Pyrenees region, and has built a tight defense based on the terrain.

If you attack from the south, you will inevitably suffer heavy losses and it will be difficult to achieve results.

So Charles V planned to clean up the Netherlands first, and then attack France from north to south, so that it would be relatively easy.

For the unification of Europe, Charles V is going to adopt the strategy of first difficult and then easy. The first thing to get rid of is France. After gnawing away this hard bone, the rest is a mess, and it is much easier to clean it up.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, good news, good news."

At this time, Pelos rushed in with excitement and said: "Your Majesty, I just received a telegram from the Ming Empire. The emperor of the Ming Empire expressed his willingness to strongly support our Spanish Empire. He wants arms and weapons for military households and loans for loans." .”

"Haha, that's great!"

When Charles V heard this, he immediately laughed happily.

"With the support of the Ming Empire, it will be easier for us to unify Europe."

"Where's Alfred?"

Charles V looked at the map and asked.

"The army led by Alfred has successfully passed through the English Channel and will soon arrive in the Netherlands."

Perez quickly replied.

"Very well, it seems that whether Henry VIII or Big Nose, they don't want to provoke our powerful Spain now, and this gives us every chance to defeat them."

Charles V immediately nodded in satisfaction, thought for a while and ordered: "Send an order to Alfred, asking him to make a quick decision, take the Netherlands as soon as possible, and complete the cleanup of the Netherlands."

"Yes~"

ps: ask for tickets~~